Systems and methods for real time tracking of targets in radiation therapy and other medical applications
First Claim
1. In medical applications, a method for tracking a target in a human patient using a marker secured in the patient such that the marker is substantially fixed relative to the target, the method comprising:
- collecting position data of the marker;
determining the location of the marker in an external reference frame based on the position data; and
providing an objective output in the external reference frame that is (a) responsive to the location of the marker and (b) provided at a frequency such that the tracking error is less than 5 mm.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods for tracking targets in real time for radiation therapy and other applications. In one embodiment, a method includes collecting position information of a marker implanted within a patient at a site relative to the target at a time tn, and providing an objective output indicative of the location of the target based on the position information collected at time tn. The objective output is provided to a memory device, user interface, and/or radiation delivery machine within 1 ms to 2 seconds of the time tn when the position information was collected. This embodiment of the method can further include providing the objective output at a periodicity of 10-200 ms during at least a portion of a treatment procedure. For example, the method can further include generating a beam of ionizing radiation and directing the beam to a machine isocenter, and continuously repeating the collecting procedure and the providing procedure every 10-200 ms while irradiating the patient with the ionizing radiation beam.
116 Citations
78 Claims
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1. In medical applications, a method for tracking a target in a human patient using a marker secured in the patient such that the marker is substantially fixed relative to the target, the method comprising:
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collecting position data of the marker;
determining the location of the marker in an external reference frame based on the position data; and
providing an objective output in the external reference frame that is (a) responsive to the location of the marker and (b) provided at a frequency such that the tracking error is less than 5 mm. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. In radiation therapy for treating a target within a patient, a method for tracking the target in real time using a marker implanted in the patient at a site relative to the target, the method comprising:
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collecting position data of the marker at a time tn;
determining the location of the marker in an external reference frame based on the position data;
providing an objective output indicative of the location of the target to a user interface, a memory device and/or a radiation delivery device within a latency not greater than 2 seconds of time tn;
repeating the providing procedure at least every 2 seconds. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. In radiation therapy for treating a target in a patient, a method of tracking the target, comprising:
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obtaining position data of a marker situated within the patient at a site relative to the target;
determining a location of the marker in an external reference frame based on the position data; and
providing to a user interface an objective output indicative of the location of the target based on the determined location of the marker at (a) a sufficiently high frequency so that pauses in representations of the target location at the user interface are not readily discernable by a human and (b) a sufficiently low latency to be at least substantially contemporaneous with obtaining the position data of the marker. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61)
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62. A radiation therapy system for treating a target of a patient using a marker implanted in the patient at a site relative to the target, the system comprising:
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a radiation delivery device including a beam generator for generating a beam of ionizing radiation, an isocenter, and an aiming system for directing the beam to the isocenter;
a detector that obtains position data of the marker at a time tn; and
a computer operatively coupled to the detector to receive the position data, the computer having a computer operable medium that determines a location of the marker based on the position data and provides an objective output indicative of a location of the target to a user interface, a memory device, and/or a radiation delivery device within a latency of not greater than 2 seconds from time tn and at a periodicity of not greater than 2 seconds. - View Dependent Claims (63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74)
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75. A tracking system for treating a target of a patient using a marker implanted in the patient at a site relative to the target, the system comprising:
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a detector that obtains position data of the marker at a time tn; and
a computer operatively coupled to the detector to receive the position data, the computer having a computer operable medium that determines a location of the marker based on the position data and provides an objective output indicative of a location of the target within a latency of 10-200 ms from time tn and at a periodicity of 10-100 ms.
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76. A method of treating a target of a patient with an ionizing radiation, comprising:
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generating a beam of ionizing radiation and directing the beam relative to the target;
collecting position information of a marker implanted within a patient at a site relative to the target while directing the beam toward the beam isocenter;
providing an objective output indicative of a location of the target relative to the beam isocenter based on the collected position information; and
correlating the objective output with a parameter of the beam.
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77. A method of treating a target of a patient with an ionizing radiation, comprising:
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generating a beam of ionizing radiation and directing the beam relative to the target with a multi-leaf collimator;
collecting position information of a marker implanted within a patient at a site relative to the target while directing the beam toward the beam isocenter; and
providing an objective output indicative of a location of the target of the patient based on the collected position information relative to the beam isocenter and controlling a configuration of the multi-leaf collimator based on the objective output.
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78. A method of treating a target of a patient with an ionizing radiation, comprising:
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generating a beam of ionizing radiation and directing the beam relative to the target; and
operating a localization system to (a) collect position information of a marker implanted within a patient at a site relative to the target while directing the beam toward the beam isocenter and (b) provide an objective output indicative of a location of the target relative to the beam isocenter based on the collected position information of the marker while directing the beam toward the beam isocenter for a period of at least 10 seconds without recalibrating the localization system.
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Specification